A Charge Delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, at the Visitation ...

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TO THE CLERGY
Oy THE DIOCESE OP LONDON

THIS CHABOE
IS INSCRIBED

WITH SINCERE AFFECTION AND RESPECT

- f '? • •
' ■ » •

BY
THEIR FAITHFUL FRIEND AND BROTHER

C. J. LONDON.

a2

V • •

.\..^-'

.->

•'A

CHARGE.

Reverend Brethren,

On this the sixth occasion of my calling you
together to hear the words of pastoral admonition
and advice, I feel an unwonted degree of anxiety and
diflSculty in addressing you. Events have recently
occurred deeply affecting the character and well-being
of that branch of the Universal Church, in which it
is our privilege to minister, of such a nature that,
while it is impossible for me to pass them over with-
out notice, it is difficult so to speak of them as not
to give offence in some quarters where I would not
willingly awaken any feeling of displeasiu'e. But
looking to the present position of the Church, and
to the uneasiness and disquietude which agitate the
minds of many of its most attached and thoughtful
members, I feel that I should be wanting to my duty,
if I did not declare my opinions with great plainness
of speech ; but, at the same time, I desire to do this
in a spirit of gentleness and forbearance, and to say
nothing which may serve to increase, or perpetuate,
the unhappy divisions which cripple the energies, and

6

impair the usefulness of our Church, and enable our
adversaries to assail us with weapons of our own
forging. May that Holy Spirit, whose office it is to
teach God's faithful people, grant us to have a right
judgment in all things, and especially in those which
concern the peace of His Church !

I proceed at once to the most important of the
questions upon which it wiU be my duty to touch ;
that which has arisen out of the proceedings of the
ecclesiastical courts in the case of Mr. Grorham v. the
Bishop of Exeter. I do not intend to enter at length
into the history of those proceedings, nor into a
minute examination of the judgment delivered by
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, or,
more properly speaking, the report made by them
to Her Majesty the Queen. But I feel myself bound
to explain to the clergy of my diocese the reasons
which induced me to withhold my approval of that
report, and I am desirous of offering some sugges-
tions as to the consequences likely to result from it,
which I would hope may tend to quiet, in some
measure, the minds of those who look upon it as in
a high degree injurious, if not absolutely fatal, to
the character of the Church, as the keeper and dis-
penser of God's truth.

When, in obedience to Her Majesty's commands,
I attended the first meeting of the Judicial Com-
mittee, I had not read Mr. Gorham's published
account of his examination by the Bishop of Exeter ;

nor was I aware of the extreme opinions which he
had avowed. I went into the inquiry with the
expectation of finding that he had not transgressed
the bounds of that latitude, which has been allowed ,
or tolerated, ever since the Reformation. Had such
proved to be the case, I could have acquiesced in
a judgment which, while it recognised that latitude,
should have distinctly asserted the doctrine of bap-
tismal regeneration, in the proper sense of the words,
to be the doctrine of our Church. But having read,
with great attention, Mr. Gorham's publication, I
found that it contained assertions wholly irreconci-
lable, as it appeared to me, with the plain teaching of
the Church of England, and of the Church Universal
in all ages.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council have
stated that Mr. Gorham's doctrine appears to them
to be as follows : — '' That Baptism is a sacrament
'' generally necessary to salvation, but that the grace
'' of regeneration does not so necessarily accompany
the act of Baptism, that regeneration invariably
takes place in Baptism; that the grace may be
" granted before, in, or after Baptism ; that Baptism
is an effectual sign of grace, by which God works
invisibly in us, but only in such as worthily receive
it; that in them alone it has a wholesome effect,
and that without reference to the qualification of
the recipient, it is not in itself an effectual sign of
grace; that infants baptized, dying before actual

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'' sin, are certainly saved, but that in no case is
" regeneration in baptism unconditional/'

Had this been a full and accurate account of
Mr. Gorham's opinions on the subject of Baptism,
as set forth by himself, and had the reasoning, by
^hich the judgment of the Judicial Committee is
siipported, been omitted, in part at least, I might
have felt less difficulty in assenting to the judgment.
It certainly must be admitted that regeneration does
not invariably take place in Baptism, if such admission
be limited to the case of unbelieving or impenitent
adults ; and that the grace is not so restrained to the
rite but that God may, if it so please him, grant it
separately from the rite ; and that it is an effectual
sign of grace to them only v^rho worthily receive it ;
the question being, whether all infants are worthy
recipients ; and lastly, that in no case is regeneration
in Baptism unconditional, the question beiag, what
are the conditions to be fulfilled.

But Mr. Gorham's assertions are not fully nor
adequately represented by the foregoing statement.
His real errors, as I consider them to be, are of a more
serious nature ; being, as far as I can understand his
language, not merely of doubtful tendency with refe-
rence to the Church's doctrine, but precisely and dog-
matically opposed to that doctrine. Those errors are
passed over in silence by the Judicial Committee in
their elaborate report to the Queen, a silence, which is
in one point of view satisfactory, inasmuch as, if it

9

does not expressly condemn the errors in question,
it certainly does not expressly vindicate^ nor in terms
sanction them.

" Mr. Gorham/' says the Judicial Committee," main-
" tains that the grace of regeneration does not so
" necessarily accompany the act of Baptism, that rege-
" neration invariably takes place in Baptism ; that the
" grace may be granted before, in, or after Baptism/'
It is true that Mr. Gorham asserts this in some of his
answers ; but in others he goes much further, and ad-
vances positions, from which it follows, as a necessary
inference, not only that there may be cases in which
infants are not regenerated in and by Baptism, but
that they are in no case so regenerated ; that infants,
duly baptized, may be regenerated ; but that if they
are, it is before Baptism, by an act of prevenient grace ;
and that so they come to Baptism already regene-
rated ; that forgiveness of sins, the new nature, adop-
tion into the family of God, the being made " members
of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the
kingdom of heaven," are benefits conferred on worthy
recipients, — not in Baptism, but by an act of pre-
venient grace given by God before Baptism, — so
making them worthy recipients of the rite ; that Bap-
tism is so far an effectual sign of God's grace bestowed
beforehand, and implanting beforehand a new nature ;
and that it strengthens and confirms faith in Him,
such faith having been given by prevenient grace/

» Examination, pp. 69, 81, 83, 85, 88, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 111,
113, 197.

10

Thus^ according to Mr. Gorham, the strengthen-
ing and confirming of faith is the whole of the spiritual
grace bestowed in Baptism, even on worthy recipients ;
faith, forgiveness of sins, regeneration, the new nature,
and adoption into the family of God, have been all
bestowed upon such, if at all, before Baptism.

It did not appear to me possible to reconcile such
statements as these with the plain and miequivocal
teaching of the Church of England as to the natiu'e of
a Sacrament. They seemed to me to be a plain denial
of that which the Church asserts, that an infant is
made in and by Baptism (not before nor after it) a
member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of
the kingdom of heaven. If there be any meaning in
words, these statements are an express contradiction
of the truth, that in a Sacrament the outward and
visible part, or sign, is a means whereby we receive
the inward and spiritual grace, as well as a pledge to
assure us thereof. If this theory of Mr. Gorham's be
true, then is baptism no longer a Sacrament according
to the Church's definition, nor can we, with a safe
conscience, continue to teach our children that Cate-
chism, which yet the Church declares is to be learned
of every one of her members.

It appeared to me, then, that these assertions of
Mr. Gorham, which were passed over without notice
by the Judicial Committee, but to which I could not
shut my eyes, went to deprive holy Baptism of its
sacramental character, and utterly to evacuate its pecu-
liar and distinctive grace.

11

I am not now considering, nor was this the question
before the Judicial Committee, whether Mr. Gorham's
theory be defensible, as being consistent with the lan-
guage of holy Scripture (which I am persuaded it is
not), but whether it be agreeable to the dogmatical
teaching of the Church of England ; whether it can be
reconciled with the deductions which she has drawn, in
accordance with the primitive Church of Christ, from
the Word of God, the one infallible source of truth.
Now, that baptismal regeneration, including in that
term the remission of original sin, and the implanting
of a new principle of spiritual life, is indeed the doc-
trine of our Church, is, to my mind, so plain, that I
find it difficult to understand how any person can
persuade himself of the contrary. I would repeat,
with reference to this question, the observation con-
tained in my Charge delivered to the Clergy of this
Diocese, in 1 842 : — " In the interpretation of the
" Articles which relate more immediately to doctrine,
our surest guide is the Liturgy. It may safely be
pronounced of any explanation of an Article, which
" cannot be reconciled with the plain language of the
" Offices for public worship, that it is not the doctrine
" of the Church. The opinion, for instance, which
denies baptismal regeneration, might possibly, though
not without great difficulty, be reconciled with the
language of the 27th Article : but by no stretch of
ingenuity, nor latitude of explanation, can it be
brought to agree with the plain, unqualified language

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" of the Offices for Baptism and Confirmation. A
" question may properly be raised as to the sense in
" which the term Regeneration was used in the early
Church, and by our own Reformers : but that rege-
neration does actually take place in Baptism, is most
" undoubtedly the doctrine of the English Church : and
" I do not understand how any clergyman, who uses
" the OflBce for Baptism, which he has bound himself
" to use, and which he cannot alter nor mutilate with-
" out a breach of good faith, can deny, that, in some
" sense or other, baptism is the laver of regenerationy
I cannot for a moment admit that the Articles
contain the whole doctrine of the Church of England.
" The Book of Articles," says Bishop Pearson, " is
"not, nor is pretended to be, a complete body of
" divinity, or a comprehension and explication of all
" Christian doctrines necessary to be taught, but an
" enumeration of some truths which, before and since
" the Reformation, have been denied by some persons,
" who, upon their denial, are thought unfit to have
" any cure of souls in this Church or realm." ^ It was
argued by Mr. Gorham's Counsel, that the Book of
Common Prayer is to be considered simply as a guide
to devotion, not as defining any doctrine : but it ap-
pears to me to be a perfectly inadmissible supposition,
that in a solemn act of worship, and especially in the
celebration of a Sacrament, any point of doctrine should

* Minor WarJcs, II. p. 169, quoted by Professor Blunt.
University Sermana^ 1849, p. 109.

13

be embodied as a certaiQ and acknowledged truth,

about which the Church entertains any doubt. This

would surely be nothing short of addressing the

Author of truth in the language of falsehood. On

the contrary, the assumption of a doctrine, as true, in

a prescribed form of prayer or thanksgiving to God,

is, in fact, the most solemn and positive assertion of

that doctrine which can possibly be made. Will

any one maintain that, if the Articles of Religion had

contained no direct declaration of the doctrine of the

Holy Trinity, it would not have been expressly and

most solemnly asserted by the Church when she

directed her members to pray to the " Holy, Blessed,

*' and Glorious Trinity, three persons and one God ?"

or that, because the special work of the Holy Ghost

in the economy of man's salvation, that of renewing

him in the inner man, is not in terms asserted in

the Articles, it is therefore not asserted by the

Church, when she instructs us to pray, " that being

" regenerate, and made the children of God by

'' adoption and grace, we may be daily renewed by

"His Holy Spirit?"

I do not understand how any clergyman can doubt
whether the Liturgy is binding upon him in respect of
doctrine, when he remembers the solemn declaration
which he has made in the face of the Church — " I do
" hereby declare my unfeigned assent and consent to
*' all and everything contained and prescribed in and by
" the book entitled The Book of Common Prayer." Not

14

only, you will observe, Ida consent to use it, but his
assent to everything contained in it. Again, it is pre-
scribed by the Act of Uniformity, that every lecturer
shall openly declare his '' assent unto, and approbation
" of the said book (of Common Prayer) ; and to the
" use of the prayers, &c. therein contained and pre-
" scHbed,'' — words' which are quite incompatible with
the notion, that nothing more is required of the clergy
than to declare their readiness to tise the Book of
Common Prayer. Dr. Waterland, speaking of the
case of Arian subscription, says of Dr. Samuel Clarke
— " He was sensible that Articles, Creeds, and Liturgy
" must all come into account, and all be reconciled (if
*' possible) to his hypothesis. He made no distinc-
" tion between the truth of this, and the use only of
'' that, well knowing that truth and use are coincident
" in a case of this high moment, and that he could
'' not submit to the use of these prayers but in such a
" sense as he thought true."*

But all doubt as to the bearing of the Book of
Common Prayer upon questions of doctrine, at least
with regard to the Sacraments, is removed by the
express language of the Canons. The 57th Canon
distinctly and authoritatively refers to the Book of
Common Prayer, as declaring what the doctrine of the
Church is with respect to the two Sacraments. " The
" doctrine," it says, " both of Baptism and the Lord's
'' Supper, is so sufficiently set down in the Book of

* Works^ vol. ii. p. 344.

15

" Ck>mmon Prayer to be used at administration of the
" said Sacraments, as nothing can be added unto it
" that is material and necessary." This is a direct
assertion that the Baptismal and Eucharistic Offices are
dogmatic as well as devotional: and were this autho-
ritative declaration wanting, we should protest against
the notion, that in the most solemn act of prayer and
thanksgiving to God, our Church should have per-
mitted herself to employ the strongest and most un-
qualified words, without intending them to be under-
stood in their natural sense. This Canon, indeed, says
no more than had been said by Bishop Ridley in his
" Last Farewell," written just before his martyrdom.
" This Church of England had of late the infinite
goodness and abundant mercy of Almighty God,
great substance, great riches of heavenly treasure,
great plenty of God's true and sincere Word, the
true and wholesome administration of Christ's holy
Sacraments, the v)hole profession of Christ's religion,
truly and plainly set forth in Baptism, the plain
" declaration and understanding of the same taught
" in the holy Catechism to have been learned of all
" true Christians/'*

I need not consider the comparative authority
of the Articles and the Book of Common Prayer
in questions of doctrine. We are bound to admit
the truth of both documents. If there be anything
which wears the semblance of contradiction^ or diver-

* Wordsworth's Bed. Biogr. III. p. 391.

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16

sity, between the two, we may be sure that the
frainers of the Articles did not intend it ; and,
with respect to the two Sacraments, the express
declaration of the Canons, put forth fifty years after
the publication of the Articles, is decisive as to the
point, that they are to be interpreted in accordance
with the plain language of the Offices in the Book of
Common Prayer. If there be any ambiguity, or want
of precision in the Articles, as to the effect of Baptism,
it is, I think, our obvious duty to have recourse to
the Office for the administration of that Sacrament,
in order to ascertain the Church's mind on so important
a point of doctrine.

It is not my intention to discuss at length the
meaning and force of the 27th Article ; nor would I
deny that its language is less precise than that, in
which many other doctrinal questions are stated and
determined; but I cannot believe that^ if there be
anything ambiguous in that language, such ambiguity
was intentional, and studiously employed for the
purpose of leaving the construction of that Article to
the private persuasion of individuals, considering that
the purpose, for which the Articles were designed, was
stated to be " the avoiding of diversities," not merely
in teaching, but " of opinions." Moreover, if there
be some obscurity in the language of the 27th Article,
when taken by itself, (an obscurity which ceases to
exist when that part of the Article which relates to
the Baptism of adults is distinguished from that

17

which concerns infant Baptism,) there is none, when
it is read in connexion with the 26th, which declares
the sacraments to be " not only badges or tokens of
'' Christian men's profession, but certain sure wit-
" nesses, and effectual signs of grace and God's
" good-will to us, whereby he doth work invisibly in
" us." Therefore Baptism is an effectual sign of
grace, that is, a sign producing the effect which it
represents ; and by baptism God doth work invisibly
in ns. I could refer you also to another of the
Articles, which seems to me very clearly to indicate
the sense of those who framed them, as to the spiritual
effects of Baptism. I mean the 16th Article, " Of Sin
after Baptism." It says : — " Every deadly sin wil-
lingly committed after Baptism, is not a sin against
the Holy Ghost, and therefore unpardonable.
'' Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be
'' denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After
we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart
from grace given, and fall into ain, and by the
grace of God we may arise again, and amend our
" Kves."

It appears to me to be an unavoidable inference
firom this Article, that its framers considered the
receiving of the Holy Ghost to be uniformly an effect
of Baptism, where no bar existed on the part of the
recipient; and this inference is rendered certain by
the language held by Cranmer in 1538. " Because,"
he says, ''infanta are bom with original sin, they

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" have need of the remission of that sin ; and that is
" so remitted that its guilt is taken away, albeit the
" corruption of nature, or concupiscence, remains in
" this life, although it begins to be healed, because
" the Holy Spirit is efficacious even in infants them-
" sehea^ and cleanses them"^ The precise nature and
extent of the spiritual change, which then takes place,
the Church has no further defined than by the general
assertion, that it is " a death unto sin, and a new birth
unto righteousness;'' and that every person, rightly
baptized, is made thereby " a member of Christ, a child
of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven."
This change is otherwise expressed by the single word
" regeneration."

I suppose that few amongst us will be found to
deny that all, who receive Baptism worthily, are, in
some sense of the term, therein regenerated. The
Church declares in very general and positive language,
of all, who, having been duly baptized, are afterwards
brought to be confirmed, that Almighty God has vouch-
safed to regenerate them by water and the Holy Ghost,
and has given them forgiveness of all their sins.

But this declaration, it is said, is to be restricted
to such as have received Baptism worthily; and
this raises the question whether all infants may
receive Baptism worthily. What is the obeof, or bar,
which in any case disqualifies an infant from the

* Jenkjns's Ed. of Cranmer's Works, vol. iv. p. 279.

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worthy reception of that Sacrament P ^ Actual sin it
cannot be. Oriffinal sin, or inherited sinfulness of
natare, is the only bar which can be imagined. But
to remedy the consequences of this original sin is the
very object of Baptism. It is therefore so far fkom
being a bar to the receipt of that Sacrament, that it is
the very reason for its administration. " Nothing/'
says Bishop Pearson, ** in the whole compass of our
'' religion is more sure, than the exceeding great and

most certain efficacy of Baptism to spiritual good ;

that it is an outward and visible sign indeed, but

by it an invisible grace is signified, and the sign
" itself was instituted for the very purpose that it
" should confer that graced

'' One Baptism for the remission of sins." If this
credendum of the universal Church be true, how can
we admit the truth of an assertion, that original sin
must be remitted by a prevenient act of grace before
an infant can be worthy to be baptized? The 9th Article
— *' Of Original or Buth Sin," declares that in every
person bom into the world this sin '' deserveth God's
" wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature
'' doth remain, yea in them that are regenerate ; and
" although there is no condemnation for them that

* Bj this term vfortky we must not be understood to imply
that the moral innooenoe of an infant, as to actual sin, constitutes
anj real worthiness, gires any claim upon the favour of God.

' Quoted by the Bishop of Exeter from Bishop Pearson's Deter-
ninaticne^

B 2

20

'' believe and are baptized (in the Latin it is renaiis),
" yet the Apostle doth confess that concupiscence and
" lust hath of itself the nature of sin." Words can-
not more clearly convey the notion that original sin is
forgiven to them that are regenerate, that is, to them
who believe and are baptized, although its infection
still remains in the lust of the flesh. And this, let
me remark by the way, points out the great difference
in point of doctrine between the Church of Rome and
our own as to the effect of Baptism. The one con-
tends that not only the ffuilf, but the very essence and
beinff of original sin, is removed by Baptism; and
that the concupiscence, which remains after Baptism,
has not, properly speaking, the nature of sin ; the other
teaches that although the guilt is forgiven in Baptism,
the corruption of nature remains even in those who
are so regenerate, and has the nature of sin.^

I am aware that a question has been raised, whether
that clause of the Nicene Creed, '' One Baptism for the
" remission of sins," has any reference to the forgive-
ness of original sin. But what other reference can it
have in the case of infant Baptism, which we know to
have been the practice of the universal Church when
that Creed was compiled P In truth, no question was
raised about it till Pelagius denied the doctrine of
original sin. The writings of his great opponent,
St. Augustine, abound with passages which prove the
belief of the Church Catholic to have been that

* See Bishop Betbell on Regeneration. 2d Edit. Preface,
p. xviii.

21

original sin was remitted in baptism, not before or
after it.*

That remission in Baptism of the guilt of original
sin for the sake of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ
(Christ being the meritorious cause of their remission,
Baptism the instrument), is also the doctrine of our
own Church, following in this, as in other respects, the
teaching of the early Church, cannot reasonably be
doubted. It is plainly asserted in the Catechism,
prayed for in the Office of Baptism, and made a sub-
ject of special thanksgiving, both in that, and in the
Office of Confirmation. Nor is it less distinctly set
forth in the Homilies, from which the following extracts
may suffice : — " We must trust only in God's mercy,
" and that sacrifice which our High Priest and
" Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, once offered
for us upon the cross, to obtain thereby God's grace,
and remission, as well of our original sin in Bap-
tism, as of all actual sin committed by us after
" Baptism, if we truly repent, and unfeignedly turn to
'' Him again."'^

" Our office is not to pass the time of this present
" life unfruitfully or idly after that we are baptized, or
" justified." "

• Dt Nwpi, ft Concup, 1. 22. AdHilarium, Ep. clvii. 13. In
Kb first Book, De Peccatorum merUis et remissione, he insists again
and again upon the remission of the g^ilt of origiqal^^ixM^ ^P~
tism, the infection of nature still remaining. /^^S^-^y - ( */^v

'* Cf the Salvatifm of ManJcind. Part 11. /^/ A^'>'\>^

HI ^'- ^"^A i*

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i» Ihid. Part III. H( -^'

22

" We be, therefore, washed in Baptism from the
" filthiness of sin, that we should live afterwards in
" pureness of life." "

The same language was held by Cranmer, Ridley,
Latimer, Becon, Hutchinson, Bradford,^' following the
steps of Luther and Melancthon, all of whom taught
that remission of sin and the gift of the Spirit were
the effect of Baptism. That this doctrine was held
by our greatest divines is so notorious as almost
to render citation unnecessary. '* Baptism,'' says
Hooker, " is a sacrament which God hath instituted
" in His Church, to the end that they who receive
'' the same might thereby be incorporated into Christ,
" and so through His most precious merit obtain as
'' well that saving grace of imputation which taketh

away all former guiltiness, as also that infused

divine virtue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to
" the powers of the soul their first disposition to-
" wards future newness of life." "

With this plain and comprehensive statement of
the beneficial effects of Baptism may be coupled
another from the same great luminary of the Church,
which, although it does not in terms specify the for-
giveness of original sin, necessarily includes it. " We
" take not Baptism nor the Eucharist for bare resefn-

" Hamilj for Oood-Friday.

^' Passages to this effect are cited from their writings in the
last number of the Irish Ecclesuuiical Journal for Oct. 1850.
" Book V. Ix. 2.

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23

*' blances or memorials of things absent, neither for
** naked siffna and testimonies aaaurinff us of yrace
** received before (which ia Mr. Gorham's theory), but,
*' as they are in deed and verity, for means effectual,
" whereby God, when we take the Sacraments, deliver-
** eth into our hands the grace available unto eternal
** life, which grace the Sacraments represent or signify.""
And in a passage immediately following that, which
has been quoted to show that Hpoker considered the
Church to speak of infants baptized only as the '' rule
'' of piety alloweth us both to speak and to think," we
find this statement, plainly showing that he beKeved
aU in&nts to receive regeneration by Baptism, whether
they be elect or not. Gartwright, whom Mr. Gorham
follows, had spoken of a grace that makes a man
a Christian before he comes to receive Baptism in the
Church; and Hooker says, "When we know how
Christ in general hath said that of 'such is the
kingdom of heaven,' which kingdom is the inherit-
ance of God's elect, and do withal behold how his
" Froddence hath called them unto the first beginnings
of eternal life, and presented them at the weU-spring
of new birth, wherein original sin is purged, besides
** which sin there is no hindrance of their salvation
" known to us, as themselves " (Gartwright and his
party) " will grant ; hard it were that, having so

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y. Ivii. 6. See the Bey. T. E. Arnold's Examination of
iome Portioni of the Rev. W, Oood^s Letter to the Bishop of
Exeter, pp. 18, 26.

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24

" many fair inducements whereupon to ground, we
'' should not be thought to utter at the least a
'' truth as probable and allowable in terming any such
" particular infant an elect bade, as in presuming
" the like of others whose safety, nevertheless, we
" are not absolutely able to warrant." He then goes
on to say, that " Baptism implieth a covenant or league
*' between God and man, wherein as God doth bestow
" presently remission of sins, and the Holy Ghost,
binding also Himself to add, in process of time,
what grace soever shall be further necessary for the
" attainment of everlasting life, so every baptized
'' soul receiving the same grace at the hands of God
" tieth likewise itself for ever to the observation of
" his laws."

The question, you perceive, of which Hooker speaks,
is not whether this or that infant is regenerated in
Baptism ; but whether, being regenerated, it can ako be
certainly pronounced elect. The early Calvinistic
divines, who held the doctrine of election, predesti-
nation, and perseverance, never doubted, on the one
hand, the certainty of baptismal grace, nor, on the
other, its defectibility. " The ancient predestinarians,"
says the present Bishop of Bangor, " never questioned
" the certainty of regeneration in Baptism, because
" this doctrine was consistent with their theory; for
" though they maintained that only the elect, or predes-
" tinate, are endued with the gift of perseverance unto
" the end, and will be finally saved, yet they believed

«

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26

" that God bestows at His pleasure eveiy other kind
and measure of grace on those persons, fix>m whom he
withholds this special grace of perseverance. They
" therefore held, in common with the rest of the
" Gfaorch, that forgiveness of sins and the gift of the
" Holy Spirit are generally bestowed in Baptism ;
" because they did not conceive that there is any
" necessary or indissoluble connexion between regene-
" ration and eternal salvation/' ^*

Two names scarcely less illustrious than that of
Hooker are those of Barrow and Pearson. The for-
mer speaks of ''each member of the Church singly
being, in holy Baptism, washed fix>m lus sins and
made regenerate, or adopted into the number of
God's children, and made partaker of Christ's
" death."" The latter declares it to be "the most
" general and irrefragable assertion of all to whom
" we have reason to give credit, that all sins, what-
'' soever any person is guilty of, are remitted in the
" baptism of the same person." "

The settled opinions of the early Lutheran divines,
as well as of Luther himself, are apparent fix)m the
Loci Theolo^ci of Gerhard, a text-book of Lutheran
theology. " Infants," he says (I quote Mr. Arnold's
translation), " do not resist the Holy Ghost and His

" Cfeneral View of BaptUmcU Regeneration, p. 139. 2d Edit.
See also the Bishop's Charge of 1849, p. 29, and NoU^,
^' Sermon XXXIX. On UniverscU Redemption.
"^ On the Creed, Art. IX.

20

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operation, and therefore faith and salvation are
undoubtedly conferred upon them."" Again, " they
detract from the efficacy of the sacraments on the
'' side of defect ... who argue that the sacraments
" are only signs of grace either already con/erred and
" received mthout the use of the sacraments, or not to
" be conferred till some later time, Zuinglius, especi-
*' ally^ had disseminated this error in his writings."
But this is precisely the error of Mr. Gorham.

With these testimonies before me, I could not
bring myself to admit that Mr. Gorham's theory of
the comparative, if not the absolute, inefficacy of
Baptism could be reconciled with the language of our
authoritative formularies, according to any just rule of
interpretation. It appeared to me that he went to
much greater lengths, in depreciating the sacramental
character of Baptism than any writer of our Church
with whose works I was acquainted, except the
opponents of Hooker; that he left far in the back-
ground those who maintain the hypothetical, the con-
ditional, or the charitable theory of baptismal efficacy,
in his assertion that in aU cases the forgiveness of
original sin, the grace of regeneration, and adoption
into the family of God, are not the effects or results
of Baptism, but of a prevenient act of grace, where
a baptized infant possesses them, or of a subsequent
act of grace, where they follow at some later time
after baptism.

»» Vol. iv. p. 512. See also his Confessio Catholiea, p. 1116.

27

Let me add one word on the subject of pre-
venient grace.

It has been well observed, that the supposition of
prevenient grace in the case of infants only shifts the
difficolty one step backwards ; for if infants be not
qoalrfied to receive baptismal grace, how can they be
qualified to receive prevenient grace ?^^ If their being
bom in sin unfits them for the one, so must it for the
other. The prevenient grace, of which some of our
older divines have spoken, refers to the Baptism of
adults, who must be predisposed by the Holy Spirit
to seek for the benefits of Baptism, and enabled to
beUeve with the heart imto righteousness.

Suffer me also to offer a remark upon the notion,
that the efficacy of Baptism in some measure depends,
in the case of infants, upon the faith and prayers of
those who offer them at the font ; that the Sacrament
is more or less efficacious, as the parents, who present
their children to be baptized, are more or less alive to
the solemn importance of the rite, and more or less
earnest in prayer for its complete and final effect.
Not to dwell on the consideration, that this notion
seems to exclude from the spiritual benefits of Bap-
tism all children of wicked or thoughtless parents,
I must confess that it seems to me somewhat akin
to the error condemned in our 26th Article, viz.,
that the unworthiness of the ministers hinders the
efiSsct of the Sacrament ; and the answer appears to be

'• Dr. Wordsworth's Occaaumal SemumSf p. 56.

28

nearly the same in both cases — ^that " the eflFect of
" Christ's ordinances is not taken away by their
\ wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished
" tfrom such as by faith and rightly do receive the
"Sacraments ministered unto them, which be effectual
'' because of Christ's institution and promise, although
" they be ministered by evil men."

The Church considers the efficacy of the Sacra-
ments to depend upon Christ's institution and pro*
mise, the fulfilment of which depends upon their
right administration and worthy reception ; and
surely an infant's fitness to receive Baptism cannot
depend upon the feelings of those who present it. In
the case of an adult, this is perfectly clear. That the
ultimate effect of Baptism may depend, in some
measure, upon the faith and prayers of parents and
sponsors, none will be found to deny ; and this con-
sideration cannot be too forcibly urged upon those
who present their children at the baptismal font, and
upon those who superintend their education. But
this is a very different thing from making the imme-
diate effect of the Sacrament to depend upon the
prayers of those who are present at its administration.
To those who hold this notion I would recom-
mend the following remark of the truly pious and
charitable Archbishop Leighton. It is contained in
a letter published in his Select Works : — " To your
" other point, touching Baptism, truly my thought is,
** it is a weak notion taken upon trust almost gene-

29

'' rally, to consider so much, or at aU, the qualifications

" of the parents. Either it is a benefit to infants, or

'' it is not. If none, then why administered at all P

'' But if it be, then why should the poor innocents

" be prejudged of it for the parent's cause, if he

*' profess but so much of a Christian as to offer his

" child to that ordinance? For that it is the parent's

" faith gives the child a right to it, is neither clear

" from Scripture nor any sound reason ; yet in that

" I heartily approve your thought, that you would

'' make it, as it most fitly may be, an inducement to

'' the parents to know Him and His doctrine, and

" live conform to it, imto whose name they desire

" their children to be baptized.""

It is obvious to remark, that much of the contro-
versy, which has so long, and unhappily with so much
of acrimony on both sides, been going on respecting
the effect of Baptism, has arisen from the different
meanings in which the word " regeneration " has been
employed. It is greatly to be desired that some
agreement should be come to, as to the sense in which
it is used by the Church. If this were done, I
believe that the differences between contending parties
would, in many cases, be found to be really much less
than they appear to be. I do not venture to give a
precise definition of what is meant by the word
regeneration, but I would offer some suggestions which
may pave the way to a common understanding.

" Sded Works, p. 548. Ed. 1758.

30

I need hardly remind you of the different passages of
Holy Scripture in which a man is said to be born of
water and of the Spirit ; to be hom^ not of bloody nor
of the mil of the fleshy nor of the will of man, but of
God: to have been begotten again of God; to be
born again^ not of corruptible seed, but of incorrup-
tible ; to have been begotten again of God unto a lively
hope ; to have been bom of God, and to sin not : to
have been begotten of God, and to ieep himself}^ Now,
he, who is bom, becomes thereby the son of him to
whom he is bom, by whom he is begotten ; and
therefore, to be bom of God, or begotten of God, means
to be made a child of Gfod. Regeneration, or the
being bom again, means that a person is made the
child of a father whose child he was not before.
Regeneration by Baptism means, then, the being
made by Baptism a child of God, and, with reference
to God's no longer regarding him with displeasure,
but with favour, a child of grace. So in the Collect for
Christmas-day, we are spoken of as being regenerate,
and made the children of God by adoption and grace.

It is obvious that this regeneration carries with it
remission of sins ; and so the Church prays, that the
" infant coming to holy Baptism may receive remission
" of his sins by spiritual regeneration ;" and afterwards
thanks God, '* that it hath pleased him to regenerate
" that infant, to receive it for his own child by adop-
" tion, and to incorporate it into his holy Church."

" John i. 13 fiii. 5. 1 Pet. i. 3, 23. I John v, 18.

81

So far» I apprehend, many will be found to agree with
us as to the nature and effects of baptismal regenera-
tion, who will perhaps draw back, or hesitate, when
we proceed one step further, and maintain that such
a change of state necessarily implies the conferring of
some inward spiritual gift upon the subject of it.
It is surely unreasonable to suppose, that where
there is a death unto sin, and a new 6irtA unto right-
eousness, there will not be given the principle of a new
It/e of righteousness ; that, where obedience is re-
quired, there should not be imparted what Bishop
Jeremy Taylor calls '' a capacity obediential." As the
first, or carnal birth, carried with it the principle of
iodily life, so the second, or spiritual, conveys the
principle of spiritual life. '' Being engrafted into
" Christ, or His Church," says Bishop Wilson, " we
" receive grace, and a new life fix)m Christ, as really
'' as a branch receives life and nourishment from the
" good tree into which it is grafted." '' In this sense,
as well as with reference to the general resurrection,
it is true tiat as in Adam aU die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. We cannot conceive of God,
that He should freely receive into His family by adop-
tion those who are washed with the laver of regenera-
tion, and freed thereby from the bar of original sin,
which rendered them, as long as it continued, incapable
of salvation, without giving them, at the same time,
such a portion of His Holy Spirit as may enable them

** CaUckeUoal Instruction for Candidates for Holy Orders,

32

to take the first steps in the path of eternal life. As
regeneration itself is the work of the Holy Spirit, we
may be assured that the grace which regenerates will
not desert him whom it has regenerated. I do not
see how this can be denied by those who suppose an
infant to undergo in Baptism such a moral change as
fits him for admission into the kingdom of heaven.

But this surely is a very different thing from that
moral change, which must take place in the adult
Christian, who is invested with personal responsibility,
and capable of seeking for or resisting the influences
of the Holy Spirit. The regeneration, which we
believe to be the effect of Baptism, in no way lessens
the necessity of conversion and spiritual renovation in
those who fall from the grace so given, nor of con-
tinual efforts, on the part of aU^ to be so renewed and
strengthened by the Holy Spirit, as to be enabled
finally to accomplish that work of which Baptism is
but the beginning. On the contrary, they furnish" the
strongest imaginable motives to vigQance and self-
examination, and to earnest prayer for larger and larger
measures of grace. We do not hold that the inward
grace given in Baptism is indefectible, but that they
who have been once regenerate may "depart from
grace given, and fall into sin." We believe that the
grace so given is an initial and seminal grace, which
must be cherished, and developed, and made fruitful,
by proper culture and training, and by a diligent use
of all the means of spiritual improvement which God

38

has given us in His Word, His Church, and His
Sacraments. Not only is the first imparting of grace
necessary, but growth in grace is required, in order to
the final efficacy of our baptismal privileges ; and so
the Church prays that the infants, whom it has pleased
God \jQ regenerate with His Holy Spirit, and to
receive for His own children by adoption, may
afterwards " crucify the old man, and utterly abolish
" the whole body of sin." And at Confirmation she
beseeches God, that He will " daily increase in them
His manifold gifts of grace," and that they may
daily increase in His Ho]y Spirit more and more."
Upon the whole, I am of opinion that the real doc-
trine of our Church, as to the effect of Baptism,
is correctly stated in the following words of one of
the most learned of her sons. Bishop Beveridge: —
Although our blessed Saviour saith to Nicodemus,
that except a man be bom of water and of the
" Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God^ yet
'' he doth not say that every one that is so bom
" shall inherit eternal life. It is tme that all that are
baptized, or bom of water and the Spirit, are
thereby admitted into the Church, or Kingdom of
God upon earth; but, except they submit to the
government, and obey the laws established in it,
they forfeit all their right and title to the Kingdom
of Heaven. They are brought into a state of sal-
vation; but unless they continue in it, and live
accordingly, they cannot be saved. Baptism puts

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34

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US in the way to heaven, but unless we walk in
that way we can never come thither. When we
were baptized, we were bom of water and of the
Spirit, so as to have the seed of grace sown in our
" hearts, sufficient to enable us to bring forth the
" fruits of the Spirit, to overcome temptations, to
believe aright in God our Saviour, and to obey and
serve him faithfully all the days of our life. But if
we neglect to perform what we then promised, and
so do not answer the end of our Baptism, by keep-
ing our conscience void of offence towards God and
'' towards man, we lose all the benefit of it, and
'* shall as certainly perish as if we had never been
" baptized." ** Or I might adopts as a still shorter
expression of the Church's mind, the language of a
late learned and judicious prelate. Bishop Van Mil-
dert : — " They who agree with our Church under-
stand by regeneration that first principle of holiness,
that beginning of the spiritual life of which Baptism
is not only the sign but also the pledge, assuring us
of its actual conveyance. Thus far, and thus far
only, they extend the meaning of spiritual regenera-
tion, and this they maintain to be given in Baptism.
The ultimate efficacy of the gift they acknowledge to
be dependent upon our subsequent growth in
grace." This doctrine is briefly and touchingly
summed up in the Collect already referred to — " Grant
*^ that we, being regenerate and made thy children by

■* Sermam, voL iii. p. 341.

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** adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy
" Holy Spirit.""

Those persons who charge the maintainers of what
we believe to be the true doctrine of Baptism with the
error of the Church of Rome touching the opus ope-
ratifm, appear not to understand clearly what that error
19. I cannot do better than quote the words of the
present learned Bishop of Bangor, to show what the
real difierenoe is, in this respect, between the two
Churches: — "That Baptism is the ordinary means
through which God bestows the grace of regene-
ration, is a doctrine common to our own Church and
to the Church of Rome. But the point on which
our divines insisted, in opposition to the decrees and
teaching of that Church, was — that this grace is not
"* communicated to, or contained in the element, and
'' bom thence transferred to the soul of the recipient ;
'' — that the outward sign is only an instrumental, the
" Holy Spirit the efficient cause of regeneration ; — that
it is not the water, but the blood of Christ, with which
our sins are washed away ; — that the object of faith
** in the sacrament of Baptism is not any virtue con-
''tained in the water, bat the promise of God in
** Christ ; and that the necessity df Baptism, when
"it may be had, depends not on any supernatural
" quality communicated to the element of water, but

^ Sermons at LincolfCs Inn, yoL i. p. 135. See also the
Bishop of Bangor'i Charge, 1849, p. 35.

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" on the positive commaBdment and institution of
" Christ." *•

Before I dismiss this subject, I would desire you to
consider, whether the vague and uncertain notions
respecting Baptism which have prevailed in the Church
during the last hundred years, have not, in a great
degree, been owing to the careless and irregular admi-
nistration of the Sacrament itself ; the office mutilated,
the font thrust into a comer, out of sight of the con-
gregation, the directions of the rubric and canons
disregarded, the definitions of the Catechism unex-
plained. I cannot but think, that if the Church's
orders with respect to the administration of Baptism
had been always and everywhere duly followed out ;
had the people been accustomed to hear the solemn
and affecting form by which their children were, or
ought to have been, grafted into the body of Christ's
Church, and to bear a part in it themselves ; had the
baptismal covenant been more carefully and systema-
tically put forward in the teaching of the clergy, in
connexion with all the duties of after life, — the ordi-
nance of Baptism would have been better understood
and more highly valued ; the Church's intention would
have been less a subject of doubt ; and extreme opinions
on either side would have found less acceptance. And
this leads me to remark that, deplorable as are the
present divisions in the Church on the baptismal

"• Chargty 1849 ; Notes, p. 42.

87

question, we may see some reason to be thankful that
any question of a purely religious nature should have
excited so wide and deep a feeling in the nation at
large. I cannot but regard it as an indication of the
growth of religious knowledge and principle in the
people of this Christian country, when I see them
taking so lively an interest in an inquiry respecting an
article of faith ; but, at the same time, it may well
suggest to us the necessity of caution and charity, lest
this awakened feeling should be hurried into either
extreme, of a superstitious reverence for outward
forms, or a puritanical contempt of them.

The thorough examination of the question before us
cannot fail to issue in the establishment of the truth :
but that desirable result may be retarded, and it will
certmnly be attained at the expense of much detriment
to the cause of true religion, if the examination be
conducted in a bitter and censorious spirit; and if
anything of personal feeling be mingled with that love
of truth which ought to be the guiding principle of all
controversy. We may not abandon, nor compromise,
what we believe to be the truth ; but we may let it be
clearly seen that, in our endeavours to establish it, we
are actuated by a desire, not to obtain a victory over
our antagonists, but to bring them to an agreement
with uB ; or, if the truth lie on their side, to come to
an agreement with them. Nor is it to be forgotten,
that, although the truth can be only one, there may be
various shades of error, more or less detrimental to the

38

integrity of Christian doctrine, more or less obstruc-
tive of the ends which all doctrine is intended to pro-
duce ; and it is to the attainment of these ends that we
should direct the minds of our people, rather than to
differences of opinion, which are not likely to weaken
the foundations of their faith, nor to impair the motives
to practical piety and holiness of life. But I can
hardly extend this liberty to those, if such there be,
who teach their congregations to undervalue the im-
portance of a Sacrament, its privileges, or its obliga*
tions.

I now proceed to offer some remarks upon the
consequences which may be expected to follow from
the Judgment grounded on the report of the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council.

In the first place, I consider that the error of
Mr. Grorham, which I have already pointed out, and
which I hope is almost peculiar to him amongst the
clergy of our Church, has not been sanctioned by the
Judicial Committee. It has been overlooked by them :
at least they have passed it by without notice.
Those opinions of Mr. Gorham, which they have
sanctioned, do not go to the extreme length of sepa-
rating the grace of Baptism from the sacrament,
nor of denying ''one Baptism for the remission of
sins." The notions which they have stated, as those
which are to be collected from Mr. Grorham's exanfii-
nation, are vague and indefinite, and involve the
necessity of putting an interpretation upon the plain

39

language of the Church other than its natural sense.
The sanctioning of this principle of interpretation
seems, it must be admitted, to open the door to an
almost unlimited latitude of teaching upon the most
important points of doctrine. But still the report
of the Judicial Committee does not contain a distinct
approval of what I consider to be the great error of
Mr. Gorham's theory — the absolute seyerance of tie
inward and spiritual grace of the sacrament from
the outward and visible sign. So far it leaves un-
touched the sacramental doctrine of the Church.^'

But, suppose it were otherwise* suppose that the
Judicial Committee had even gone to the length of
sanctioning so grave an error as this ; would such
a decision have really affected the character of our
Church as a teacher of God's saving truth and
a dispenser of His holy Sacraments? I think not.
It might, indeed, have exposed her, in its conse*
quences, to the danger of being so affected at some
future time ; and to that danger, as one which may
possibly follow even from the recent Judgment,
we must not close our eyes. But let us bear in
mind that it is not, properly speaking, the Church's
act ; that it does not alter a single sentence or word
of her Creeds or formularies; that it does not
exempt any one of her ministers from the necessity

^ This baa been well remarked bj Lord Lindsaj, in bis Bri^
Anatytia of the Doetrme and Argument in the case of Oorham
V. ike Biehop of EMeter^ p. 42.

40

of subscribing to her Articles in their '' plain, literal,
and grammatical sense," nor give them liberty to
change,^ or omit, a single word of those offices, in
which her orthodox doctrines are embodied, and
enunciated, and applied to practice. This is, indeed,
an invaluable advantage possessed by the Church
in her Book of Common Prayer, that it is a standing
confutation of erroneous doctrine, a stated procla-
mation of Christian truth continually resounding in
the ears, and carried home to the hearts, of all
her members, and made familiar even to the most
unlearned. As long as we retain unaltered our Book
of Common Prayer, I do not think that we have much
to fear from the diversity of opinions which may from
time to time arise in the Church. A clergyman may
sometimes preach strange doctrines to his people;
but he must also formally contradict them as often as
he reads the Liturgy in his church ; and the people in
general are so habituated to its plain, simple, forcible
enunciations of Scripture verities, in the most affecting
form, that of direct addresses to the Author of all
truth, that an occasional misinterpretation of them, on
the part of the preacher, will not often loosen the
foundations of their faith, nor rob them of the conso-
lation which the Church's offices are so well adapted
to impart. I am much inclined to agree with the
late Mr. Alexander Knox, who, as we leani from
Bishop Jebb, " considered the Liturgy a much stronger
" fence to the Church than subscription to the Articles.

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41

" The latter was a single act, to which a man might
'' argue down, or persuade his scruples. But no Arian
who had a grain of rehgion or honesty could persist,
week after week, in reading the Creeds." **
Bat to return to the question more immediately
before us : I would again urge the consideration, that
the teaching of the Church is still to be found in
its Creeds, Formularies, and Articles, not in the
decisions of any court, even the highest, which is
constituted for the purpose, not of making or altering
laws, but of enforcing them. I admit that a series
of erroneous judgments upon any important point
of doctrine might have the effect of practically nulli-
fying the Church's own assertion of it; but I still
maintain that this is a defect in the discipline of
the Church, which requires indeed correction, but
which does not, in principle, affect her doctrine.
Until the decrees and canons, in which that has been
embodied, are altered ; until her solemn assertion of
the truth in her Liturgy b silenced by her own act,
and by virtue of her own synodical movement ;
the Church cannot be said to have given up any
one feature of her system of doctrinal truth, nor
to have ceased from asserting it.

The highest judicial tribunal has no authority to
alter one word of the formularies in which the
Church has deUberately enshrined her belief. That
can only be done by the Church herself, duly repre-

" Preface to Burners Livee, p. zzzviii. ed. 1833.

42

sented in Convocation. For this reason, J do not
consider that we stand in need of any fresh synodical
declaration on the subject of Baptism. The Church's
language is sufficiently plain in her Articles, Cate-
chism, and Offices; and to attempt a more precise
and stringent definition, at this time of day, would
be equivalent to an admission that she had hitherto
left a most important point of Christian doctrine un-
determined and uncertain. Besides, I should fear
that, if any attempt were made to obtain such a
definition, it would open the door for an endeavour to
tamper with the Book of Common Prayer, especially
with the Offices for Baptism and the Holy Com-
munion. If some persons are of opinion that any
one of the Articles is not sufficiently explicit on the doc-
trine of either Sacrament, others think that the Liturgy
expresses the sacramental principle too strongly; and
it is easy to imagine what disputes and confusion
might arise, if the expediency of rendering the Articles
more^ or the Liturgy less dogmatical, were to be made
a subject of synodical debate. On this question I
retain the opinion which 1 expressed sixteen years
ago, in the words of the Rev. John Newton : — " As
to our Liturgy, I am far from thinking it incapable
of amendment ; though when I consider the temper
and spirit of the present times I dare not wish that
" the improvement of it should be attempted, lest the
*' remedy should be worse than the disease."

Of the attempts which would probably be made to

tt

48

strip our Common Prayer of its characteriBtic excel*
lences, we may form some notion from the proposals
already put forth by those who call for its reformation,
and who would expunge from it the Athanaaian
Creed, the assertion of baptismal regeneration, some
of the rubrics in the Office for the Holy Communion,
the reference made in the preface to the Ordinal to
" ancient authors " as testifying to the existence of
the three orders of the ministry in all ages of the
Church, and many other portions of the Liturgy.'*
Should the time ever unhappily come when such con-
cessions shall be made, it will not be long before our
venerable and scriptural Liturgy is replaced for the
second time by a '' Directory for the Public Worship
of God."

In thus stating my apprehension of the conse-
quences, which might be expected to follow from any
attempt to obtain a synodioal revision of the Book of
Common Prayer, or an explanation of any of the
Articles, I would not be understood to express an
opinion un&vourable to the removal of those restric-
tions, which now hinder the Church from deliberating
in her collective capacity upon questions of doctrine
or discipline. In theory, and by her legal constitu-

• The Layman' $ Prayer Book, hemg the Booh of Comfrum
Prayer altered so ae not to cwUrad/ict the Scriptures according to
the plain meaning of words, adapted to he used in Churches.
London, 1845. See the exoeUent remarks of Profewor Blunt, in
his Universiiy Sermons, 1849, p. 102.

44

tioDy she possesses that right ; but in practice she is
restrained from exercising it. That restraint is no
sufficient ground for renouncing her communion ; but
it may well be thought a fit subject of complaint ;
and its removal may be sought for by all legitimate
methods. It may be doubted whether the actual
constitution of Convocation is the best that could be
devised ; it may be questioned whether the Church
should not be represented by a body consisting of lay
as well as clerical members ; but even as Convocation
at present exists, some matters might safely be
entrusted to its consideration ; nor should it be for-
gotten that the Crown can at any moment interfere to
stop its proceedings, if they should transgress the
rules of equity or of charity. But this subject is too
large and difficult to be fully considered on the present
occasion.

With respect to the desirableness of substituting a
new court of appeal, in suits involving questions of
heresy, for the Judicial Committee of the Privy Coun-
cil, I think it unnecessary to trouble you with any
observations. My reasons for thinking such a change
advisable were fully stated in a speech recently de-
livered in the House of Lords, and since pubUshed.

The attempt, then made, to obtain the consent of
Parliament to a change in the constitution of the
present court of appeal, was not successful, but we
need not on that account forbear from renewing it,
nor despair of its ultimate success. It is on all hands

45

agreed that gome change is necessary; our object

must be to obtain the sanction of the legislature to

9uch a change as shall be in accordance with the

essential principles of our ecclesiastical polity. Those

principles, I would remind you, remain unchanged.

The law of the Church, whatever defects we may

peToeive in its administration, continues essentially

tlie same. There is much in the actual state of things

to excite our apprehension and to keep alive our

vigilance; but the difficulties, which surround our

Church, far from affording to any of her members

a sufficient reason for deserting her, and renouncing

her communion, seem to me to require from them

an increased degree of affection and dutiful obedience,

and a more united and determined resistance to her

adversaries.

With respect to those persons who have lately
seceded from us, and passed over to the Church of
Borne, it is manifest that the recent decision of the
Judicial Committee, although it may have been made
the pretewt, cannot have been the cause of their
secession. A supposed misinterpretation of the
Church's mind upon a particular point of doctrine
by a Court of Law, can hardly be regarded by the
commonest understanding as a sufficient reason for
renouncing her communion, and embracing all the
errors, both of doctrine and practice, which the
Church of Rome imposes upon the reason and con-
science of her members; for it must be borne in

46

mind that it is not simply a question, whether that
Chmt;h asserts any particular point of doctrine more
precisely and dogmatically than our own, but whether
its whole ^atem be such, as to represent more clearly,
and more fully, the true faith and pure worship of
God.

Whoever desires to be in communion with the
Church of Rome, must be prepared to embrace that
system in all its fulness and complexity ; eveiy item
of all the errors and superstitions which have at any
time received the stamp of Papal infallibility ; and
not only so, but every new doctrine or practice which
the same authority may from time to time impose
upon the Church. It is not easy to say what the
members of that Church are required to believe now ;
it is impossible for them to foresee what they may be
called upon to admit as an article of the faith next
year^ or in any future year. For instance, till of late
it was open to them to believe, or not, as they
might see reason, the fanciful notion of the im-
maculate conception of the Blessed Virgin, which
had been opposed by some of the most eminent
divines of their Church, and purposely left undecided
by the Council of Trent. But the present Bishop
of Eome has seen fit to make it an article c^ the
faith ; and no member of his Church can henceforth
question it, without denying the infallibility of his
spiritual sovereign, and so hazarding, as it is asserted,
his own salvation.

47

Snppose that the teaching of oar own Church, as
to the effects of Baptism, were less clear and definite
tlian it is, leaving to her ministers a greater latitude
than is actually left to them by the recent Judgment ;
would that justify any one of her members in throw-
ing himself into the arms of a Church, which teaches,
and now more openly than ever insists upon, his
paying divine honours to a creature? Is Mariolatry
a less sin, or less a departure from the truth, than
a low view of baptismal regeneration? Is a belief
that the grace of God is not tied to the outward and
visible sign in a Sacrament, a more pernicious error
than the assertion that the priest's intention is neces-
sary to the efficacy of a Sacrament ? If the former
notion be calculated to raise a doubt whether this
or that infeoit be made by baptism a Christian, is
not the other much more so? No man in the Church
of Rome, who is bound to admit its doctrine respect-
ing the priest's intention in administering the Sacra-
ments, can be sure whether he is a Christian or not.
This one dogma of that Church is more calculated to
raise doubts and scruples in the minds of her members,
than any uncertainly which is supposed to exist in
any of the Articles of our Reformed Church." This
line of reasoning might be pursued at greater length
with reference to the various corruptions of Gk)spel
truth, the behef of which the Church of Rome binds

* See a remarkable letter of Bishop Berkeley, published bj
ihe Ber. J. 8. Anderson, 1850, p. 19.

48

upon the consciences of all her members as necessary
to salvation. But I must content myself with the
general observation, that he, who deserts the Church
of his Baptism on account of some one supposed
flaw in her system of discipline, or even of doctrine,
and submits to an authority which demands an im-
plicit belief in an indefinite number of dogmas,
opposed alike to Scripture and to common sense,
some impious and some absurd, may be compared to
a man who, having observed some instance of doubt
or hesitation in his guide, in order to avoid mistaking
the path on one side, rashes blindfold over a precipice
on the other.

But there is another very important consideration
suggested to us by the recent lamentable secessions
from our Church. It may well occur to us to inquire,
how far the way may have been paved for them, in
some instances at least, by the growth of opinions and
practices in our own Reformed Church, at variance, if
not with the letter, yet with the spirit of its teaching
and ordinances. I am unwilling to condemn, without
reserve, the motives of those amongst the clergy, who
have thought themselves at liberty to imitate, as nearly
as it is possible to imitate without a positive infringe-
ment of the letter of the law, the forms and ceremonies
of the Church of Bx)me ; or to insinuate, without openly
asserting, some of the most dangerous of those errors
which our own reformed Church has renounced and
condemned. I am bound to do justice to their zeal

49

and devotedness, their self-denial and charity. In-
consistent as I think their conduct has been with
their duty to the Church of which they are ministers,
I cannot suspect them of intentional treacheiy. They
may perhaps have thought that they were^adopting
the most likely method of retaining in our communion
persona of warm imaginations and weak judgment,
who were in danger of being dazzled by the mere-
tricions splendour of the Roman ritual, or deluded by
the false pretences of the Roman system of doctrine
to antiquity and unity. If such has been their object,
they have been grievously disappointed. Concession
to error can never really serve the cause of truth. If
some few have been thus retained within the pale of
our Church, many others have been gradually trained
for secession from it. A taste has been excited in
them for forms and observances, which has stimulated,
without satisfying, their appetite, and they have na-
turally sought for its fuller gratification in the Church
of Rome. They have been led, step by step, to the
very edge of the precipice, and then, to the surprise
and disappointment of their guides, have fallen over.
I know that this happened in some instances. I have
no doubt of its having happened in many.

With respect to doctrine, what can be better cal-
culated to lead the less learned, or less thoughtful
members of our Protestant Church to look with com-
placency upon the errors which that Church has re-
nounced, and at length to embrace them, than to have

I)

50

books of devotion put into their hands by their own
clergymen, in which all but divine honour is ascribed
to the Virgin Mary ; a propitiatory virtue is attributed
to the Eucharist ; the mediation of the saints is spoken
of as a probable doctrine ; prayer for the dead is urged
as a positive duty ; and a superstitious use of the sign
of the cross is recommended as profitable ? Add to
this the secret practice of auricular confession^ as a
means of grace^ the use of crucifixes and rosaries, the
administration of what is termed the sacrament of
penance ; and it is manifest, that they, who are taught
to believe that such things are compatible with the
principles of the English Church, must also believe it
to be separated from that of Rome by a faint and almost
imperceptible line, and be prepared to pass that line
without much fear of incurring the guilt of schism.

Then, with regard to the mode of celebrating divine
worship : it has been a subject of great uneasiness to
me to see the changes, which have been gradually
introduced by a few of the clergy, at variance, as I
think, with the spirit of the Church's directions ; and,
in some instances, with the letter. It has been always
esteemed an evidence of the wisdom and moderation
of those who framed our Common Prayer, that they
retained *' such ceremonies as they thought best to
'' the setting forth of God's honour and gloiy, and to
'' the reducing of the people to a most perfect and
" godly living, veithout error or superstition, putting
" away other things which they perceived to be most

51

" abused, as in men's ordinances it often chanceth
'' diversdy in divers countries/' Bat this principle
has been lost sight of by the persons to whom I allude ;
and they have presumed, following their own private
judgment, and not the rules nor intention of the
Church, to introduce, one by one, those very forms
and observances, which the reformers of our litui^
bad purposely discontinued and laid aside, but which
it is now sought to revive, some of them for the first
time since the Reformation. These innovations have,
in some instances, been carried to such a length as to
rmder the Church service almost hisMonic. I really
cannot characterise by any gentler term the continual
changes of posture, the frequent genuflexions, the
crossings, the peculiarities of dress, and some of the
decorations of churches, to which I allude. They are,
after all, a poor imitation of the Boman ceremonial,
and furnish, I have no doubt, to the observant mem-
bers of that Church, a subject, ou the one hand, of
ridicule. 88 being a faint and meagre copy of their
own gaudy ritual, and, on the other hand, of exulta-
tion, as preparing those who take delight in them to
seek a further gratification of their taste in the Roman
communion.

I am by no means insensible to the value of the
aesthetic principle in the externals of religion ; but
great caution is regjiisite, not to lay such stress upon
that which is material and emblematical, as to de-
tract from the importance of that which is purely

d2

52

spiritual ; to substitute, in fact, the mere machinery
of religion for the effects which it is intended to
produce. I have always contended, and still con-
tend, that we are bound to carry out all the Church's
directions for the celebration of divine service ; but I
contend^ also, that we offend against her order, not
less by the admission of what it forbids, or does not
enjoin, than by the omission of anything which it pre-
scribes. Suffer me to remind you of the language
which I held to you on this subject eight years ago.
" Such practices," I observed, " which are neither
" prescribed, nor recommended, nor even noticed by
" oiu* Church, nor sanctioned by general custom,
'' throw discredit upon these decent ceremonies and
expressive forms, which are intended to enliven the
devotion of those who are engaged in the service of
'' God, and to do honour to His name.'' " In resisting
" an exaggerated spiritualism, we must be careful not
*' to incur the charge of materializing religion ; and,
** above all, we must beware of arbitrarily connecting
" the gifts of God with ordinances of merely human
*' appointment, and of teaching oiu* people to place
'' the ceremonies which the Church has ordained,
'' however significant and laudable, on the same
** footing as the Sacraments which have been ordained
" by the Lord Jesus himself."

In 1846, I again complained of the efforts, which
had for some time past been systematically made, to
revive amongst the members of our own communion

€€
it

53

opinions and practices usually regarded as peculiar to
the Church of Rome ; and I spoke of them as tending
to perplex and unsettle sensitive and imperfectly in-
structed consciences, and to prepare them for an
acknowledgment of the paramount authority of that
Church, which, as it concedes nothing, nor admits the
possibility of its erring, even in the minutest feature
of the compUcated system which was stamped with
the character of unchangeableness by the decrees of
the Council of Trent, has manifestly a great advantage
in dealing with unstable and doubtful minds, when-
ever one step has been taken in advance towards that
sjTstem.

I had hoped that these distinct expressions of my
opinions would have the effect of checking the inno^
vations alluded to, and of awakening those of the
clergy of my diocese who had departed the furthest
from the simpUcity of our reformed ritual, to a sense
of the danger of all endeavours to assimilate it to the
Roman ceremonial, and to the inconsistency of such
endeavours with their own obligations, as ministers of
our Reformed Church, bound by solemn pledges to
observe her rules, and to carry out her intentions.
That expectation has been disappointed; neither my
public exhortations, nor my private admonitions, have
produced the desired effect. I have been told that I
had no authority to forbid anything which was not in
express terms forbidden by law ; and that practices,
which, though purposely laid aside by the Church, and

54

80 by implication condemned, have not been actually
prohibited, are therefore lawful; and that canonical
obedience to a Bishop is only that which he can
enforce in a court of law: and so the innovations,
which I objected to, have been persisted in, with addi-
tional changes introduced from time to time, with the
manifest purpose of assimilating the services of our
Reformed Church as nearly as possible to those of the
Roman. Once mcnre I declare my entire disapproval
of such practices, and my earnest wish that, while
every direction of the rubric and canons is observed
where it is possible, no form should be introduced
into the celebration of public worship which is not
expressly prescribed by them, or sanctioned by long-
established usage.

It is a duty at all times incumbent upon the mem-
bers of our Reformed Church, especially upon her
ministers, to abstain &om everything which may seem
in any way to countenance the errors of the Church
of Rome, and may lead any person to believe that the
difference between us is less than it really is ; to forbear
from imitating its peculiarities, from recommending
its books of devotion, from attending its services,
even through curiosity; in short, to shun all inter-
course vnth it as a Church. But this duty presses
upon us with peculiar force at the present time, when
that Church is advancing its pretensions to spiritual
dominion amongst us with a degree of arrogance
hitherto unknown. It has been thought sufficient

65

by all fonner Popes, since the time of the Beforma-
tion, to provide for the spiritual care of their adherents
in this coimtiy by the appointment of Vicars Apostolic,
exercising, indeed, episcopal authority over them, yet
not as Bishops of any English See, but deriving
their titles from some imaginary dioceses, in partibus
injldelium. The assertion, now first made, of the
Pope's right to erect Bishops' Sees in this country,
appears to me to be not only an intentional insult to
the episcopate and dergy of England, but a darmg,
though powerless, invasion of the supremacy of the
Crown. The Act of Parliament which restored that
supremacy provides that, '^ No foreign prince, person,
" prelate, state, or potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall
** use, enjoy, or exercise, any manner of power, jurisdic-
tion, superiority, authority, pre-eminence, or privilege,
spiritual or ecclesiastical, within this realm." And
although, while the law in this respect remains un-
changed, the pretended erection of a Bishop's See in
Engkmd, by the Pope's authority, can have no legal
efiect, it is manifestly the assertion, on his part, of a
right to do that which the laws of England have for-
bidden ; and I cannot, therefore, but regard it as a
measure against which, not only the Church, but the
Government of this country, is boimd emphatically to
protest.

It is evident that the Bishop and Court of Rome
entertain very sanguine hopes of the conversion of
this country, which they consider to be in partibus

€t

€€

56

i/ifidelium, and of its return to the bosom of their
Church. The sad falling away of some, who seemed
to be the most attached to the Church of England,
has awakened expectations, not unnatural indeed, but
destined to certain disappointment. I believe that
the very boldness of the pretensions, now put forth by
the Bishop of Rome and his agents, will prevent their
success. They may dazzle and confound a few weak
minds, or captivate some ardent imaginations; but
they will be instinctively repelled by the common
sense and right feeling of the people at large. Popery,
as demanding an entire prostration of man's intellect
before an authority, which attempts to substantiate its
claims, not by proofs, but by gratuitous and incon-
sistent assertions, cannot long retain its hold upon the
mind of a well-educated people, imbued with a know-
ledge of Holy Scripture. Its fundamental principle is,
that men are not to examine, but to beUeve ; and at
the present moment, by the re-assertion of super-
stitions which the more learned writers of the Roman
Church have long ago exploded, and by the revival
of legends suited only to an age of the grossest igno-
rance, it seems to be pushing that principle to its
very utmost length, as though its maxim were, that
the more incredible a doctrine, or history, may seem to
be, the more merit there is in believmg it. Credo,
quia impoasidile eat. And this fearless contempt and
defiance of common sense has its effect upon some
uninformed and humble minds, overpowering them by

57

the very audacity of its pretensions ; while the authority
which displays it offers to relieve them from all the
trouble and anxiety of a search after truth, assuring
them that it is at once their duty and their happiness
not to inquire, nor to think, but to believe.

But the Church of Rome employs different agencies
and instruments for different classes of men. For
those, whose education and habits of mind require
something like argument and evidence, she has her
subtle dialecticians and persuasive orators, who do not
fetter themselves by a very strict adherence to the
canon of doctrine laid down by the Council of Trent ;
but insinuate, if they do not expressly teach, various
modifications of it, adapted to remove what they term
the prejudices of their Protestant hearers, especially of
those who are members of the Church of England.
You will readily understand me to allude to the Orato-
rians, as they are called, and I name them principally
for the sake of expressing my earnest hope, that none
of you will give the least countenance to their pro-
ceedings, nor run the risk of impairing the strength of
your own convictions, and of weakening your attach-
ment to the Church of which you are ministers, by
attending any of their services, or listening to their
lectures.

But while we are looking to the dangers which
impend over us in one quarter, let us not close our
eyes to those which threaten us from another. A
natural principle of antagonism in the human mind

58

makes it probable that some, who fly off from Popery,
will traverse the entire diameter of the rational sphere,
and be landed on the antipodes of infidelity. I would
desire you to consider, whether some of those persons,
who are disgusted with the departures, now too com-
mon, from the soberness and simplicity of our devo-
tional offices, and with the exaggerated notions which
are insisted on as to the authority of the priestly office,
are not too likely to take refuge, not in Low Church
doctrine, as the term is commonly understood, but in
the boundless expanse of latitudinarianism, a sea
without a shore, and with no pole-star to guide those
who embark on it, but the uncertain light of human
reason. I cannot but think that we have more to
apprehend from the theology of Germany than from
that of Rome ; from that which deifies human reason,
than that which seeks to blind or stifle it ; from a
school, which labours to reconcile Christianity with its
own philosophy, by stripping the Oospel of all its
characteristic features, and reducing it to the level of
a human system, than from a Church, which rejects
and condemns even the soundest conclusions of true
philosophy, when they are at variance with the deter-
minations of its own presumed infaHibiUty.

The theology, if it deserves the name, to which I
allude, has been grafted upon, or grown out of, the
idealism of the German philosophers. It has exhibited
«}rmptoms of decline in its native soil ; but I fear it is
beginning to lay hold on the more practical mind of

59

this country: and from it^ in my judgment, more
danger is to be apprehended, than from the attempt to
revive worn-out superstitions, and to shackle the un-
deratandings and consciences of men with fetters
which were broken and thrown off at the Reformation.
Moral evidence, historical testimony, inspiration,
miracle, all that is objective in Christianity, is swept
away by the writers of this school ; its glory defaced,
its living waters deprived of all their healing virtues
by distillation in the alembic of rationalism.

Now I fear that there are some persons, who think
that they may safely go to a certidn length with these
bold adventurers in theology, without followiDg them
into aU their extravagant speculations; for instance,
that they may deny the inspiration of Holy Scripture,
as the Church understands it, without calling in
question the evidences, that is, the historical evidences,
of Christianity; that they may believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, and yet cast off what
they term a superstitious reverence for the text (not
the letter, but the substantive contents) of the
Bible. ' But I do not believe it to be possible for any
one thus to undervalue and weaken the authority of
the Apostles and Prophets, and so to undermine
the foundations of his belief, without impairing the
soundness of the superstructure, and diluting his
faith in Jesus Christ as the chief comer-stone. To
deny the inspiration of Scripture, is one step towards
the rejection of the Gospel as a revelation from God.

60

Against this fatal heresy I would earnestly caution my
younger brethren, as being one from which, in the pre-
sent state of the human mind, we have much more to
fear than from the encroachments of Popery. Rational-
ism, as its name implies, referring everything to man's
unaided reason, as the ultimate test of truth, flatters
the pride of his nature, which is revolted by the
humbling, though consolatory doctrines of the Gospel.
Popery offends and disgusts the understanding, by
inventions opposed alike to common sense and to
the plain letter of Holy Scripture. The latter aims at
the complete subjugation of the intellect to the
authority of the self-constituted Vicar of Christ;
the former asserts the supremacy and infallibility of
human reason.'^ It is manifest that this is the most
likely to find favour with a learned and scientific
generation; while the former can rest its hope of
general acceptance only on the ground of general
ignorance. The true safeguard and preservative from
both extremes is to be found in the general diffusion
of sound scriptural knowledge by means of education ;
in a sedulous inculcation of the doctrines of our
Reformed Church, ais drawn from the inspired Word
of God ; and in a firm adherence to her Creeds, and
Liturgies, and Articles. If these be cast aside ; or if,
while they are subscribed to in the letter, they are
imderstood and interpreted in a non-natural sense, so
as to explain away, on one side, the fundamental

'* See Dr.M'Caul's exoeUent Thoughts on Rationalism. 1850.

61

troths of Christianity, or, on the other, the distiDctive
doctrines of our Church, we shall soon be afloat on a
sea of error, drifting helplessly amongst the shoals and
quicksands of heresy, old and new. The Church will
no longer be an ark of safety ; its ministry will be a
ministry not of peace, but of confusion ; and what the
results will be, we may learn from the example of the
continental Churches, which are now reaping the bitter
fruits of their defection from catholic truth and order,
and of their separation of religious from secular edu-
cation.

And what is the lesson which the actual con-
dition of our own Church is calculated to teach us P
Menaced by dangers of opposite kinds ; on this side,
superstition and spiritual tyranny; on that side,
rationalism, with infidelity and pantheism in its train ;
are we not bound to put away from us, as far as our
duty to the truth will permit, all dissensions and con-
troversies between ourselves ; to rally round the vital
truths of the Gospel ; and to study, with much self-
inquiry and earnest prayer, to realize our Saviour's
precept, Ilace salt in yourselves^ and peace one with
another? Whatever defects we may believe to exist
in the constitution of oiu* Church, as viewed in con-
nexion with the civil polity of this country, let us
devote our energies, more resolutely than we yet have
done^ to the fulfilment of our own individual duties as
ministers of that Church, each' in his proper sphere of
action ; and we shall find, in the more rapid growth of

62

religion, in the extension of the Church's boundaries,
in the daily in-gathering of those who are to be saved,
and in the moral and social improvement of the people
at large, abundant evidence of our belonging to a true
Church. Nay, have we not even now sufficient evi-
dence of this kind to assure and encourage us P Can
we believe that Grod would bless the efforts of a false,
or a falling Church with such success, as by His good-
ness has already crowned the awakened energies of
our own P And is not the very fact of that awakening,
viewed in connexion with its results, in itself a con-
demnation of those who desert our Church because
she is hindered, as they think, from doing her proper
work ? Is it too much to say, that the Divine Head
of the Church (we speak with all humility), seems to
be acknowledging the legitimacy of that branch of it
which is planted in this realm, by signal marks of His
favour? not by amplifying its worldly honours, not
by enlarging its endowments, nor by augmenting its
temporal power, nor by giving it increased favour in
the sight of legislators and rulers ; but by calling forth
its spiritual energies, by reviving its inner life, by
rekindling in its members[ somewhat of the Church's
ancient warmth of piety and charity, by giving it both
the will and the power to lengthen its cards ami
strengthen its stakes, and to break forth on the right
hand and on the left? Have we not thankfully to
acknowledge the goodness of God towards the Church
of this countryi in permitting it to send forth, within

63

the last teu years, fifteen additional bishops to preside
over its distant and too-long neglected branches, and
in blessing the labours of those devoted and self-
denying men, and of the clergy over whom they are
placed, with an almost imlooked-for measure of suc-
cess ? This, too, be it remembered, by the Church's
inherent energy, without assistance, almost without
encouragement from the State.

Again, are there no indications of the existence

of a true Church, faithful to her appointed work,

in the efforts, which have of late years been made,

to bring into her bosom, and to provide with

heavenly nourishment, the multitudes of perishing

sinners, called indeed by her name, and for the most

part, it may be, made her children by Baptism, but

firom that moment treated as strangers and foreigners,

ignorant of her maternal care, and suffered to remain

in an almost worse than heathen state ? Are not the

churches and schools, which are now so many centres

of light and holiness in regions, where the powers of

darkness long held undisputed sway, so many trophies,

which the Church militant has been permitted to erect

over the enemies of man's salvation P Is it not the

Church, which has of late lifted up her voice, and told

the rich and powerful of the duties they owe to the

poor, and of the dangers which have arisen, and of the

ruin which must ensue, from the continued neglect of

those duties P Let us, dear brethren, be duly thankful

to God for all that He has guided and enabled our

64

Church to effect^ as the dispenser of His truth, and be
more zealous and more united than ever in our endea-
vour to carry on that work in our respective spheres
of duty. Let us rally, as dutiful sons, round our spiri-
tual mother in the time of her distress or perplexity ;
repair the breaches of our Sion as effectually as God
may permit us to repair them ; and possess our souls
in patience and prayer, till, in His own good time, He
shall see fit to perfect the work.

There are still other topics which seem to require
some notice from me, but I can only touch upon them
very briefly.

The question of establishing Sisterhoods of Mercy,
or Charity, in our Reformed Church is one respecting
which opinions are greatly divided. That such insti-
tutions may be productive, under due regulation, of
much good, cannot, I think, be doubted. They have
from time to time been recommended to our Church
for adoption by writers whose attachment to the prin-
ciples of the Reformation cannot be doubted/^ They
were, in fact, originally Protestant institutions. Eighty
years before the formation of Sisterhoods of Charity
in the Church of Rome by Vincent de Paul, the
Protestant Sisterhood of Sedan, and the Ladies of
Rochelle, set the example of these associations for
pious and charitable objects.

'* See a Pamphlet entitled Protectant Sisters of Charity, ad-
dressed to the Bishop of London in 1826, and Southey's ColloquieSf
vol. ii..p. 319, and Appendix.

65

Tbst it is possible to conduct them in accordance
with Protestant principles, is proved by the institution
of Deaconesses established in Paris in 1841, and carried
on, with continually increasing success, under the
truly paternal care and wise direction of M. Vermeil,
Pastor of the Reformed Church of Paris. In a few
years a spacious house, containing 127 rooms, with
large yards and gardens, has been purchased and
fitted up, and is filled with sufferers of every descrip-
tion. Instruction for the young, consolation and
guidance for penitents, medicine and attendance for
the sick, a lending library, the distribution of Bibles
and tracts, — all these objects are carried out, or super-
intended, by the deaconesses and probationers ; and
these useful labours have been thankfully acknow-
ledged, from time to time^ by pecuniary grants from
the municipal authorities of Paris. This institution
has been, from the first, carefully guarded against the
errors and abuses of the Church of Rome. It has
associated together Christian women, constrained by
the love of Christ, and desirous of being permitted
to do His work more effectually than could be done
by their detached and isolated efforts. But it has
held out to them no inducements, nor facilities, to
desert the duties laid upon them by their domestic
relations. There has been no vow of celibacy, nor
engagement biliding their consciences; no violation
of the liberty wheremth Christ has made us free :

s

66

the character of the establishment is not that of a
monastic community, but of a great Christian family.
If any sisterhoods can be formed in this country an-
swering to this description, I should hail their insti-
tution, as calculated to increase the efficiency of our
Church, and to strengthen it against the machinations
of Rome. But I strongly deprecate the establishment
of any religious, or charitable society of females, which
shall have almost every peculiarity of a nunnery but
the name. I fear that this is the case with some
which have been already formed. I have reason to
believe that, in more than one instance, young women
have been encouraged or permitted to enrol them-
selves as Sisters of Mercy, against the earnest
wish of their nearest relatives, and to neglect one
clearly prescribed duty for the sake of undertaking
another, which is certainly not of positive obligation.
I should think it a sufficient condemnation of such an
institution to be able to show, that in any one instance
its conductors had invited, or permitted, a daughter
to become an inmate, in spite of the earnest remon-
strances of a father, or of a widowed mother. From
these objections the Training Institution for Nurses,
which has been established in Fitzroy Square, is
free ; and I do not mean to deny that more extensive
establishments, of the nature of that which exists at
Paris, might be formed in strict accordance with the
principles of our Reformed Church. All that I intend

67

to say is, that greater care is requisite to avoid the
faults of monastic institutions, than appears to have
been exercised in some instances, that have come to
my knowledge.

The question of National Education is one, which
on this occasion I must pass by with a single remark.
After all the discussions which have taken place, with
regard to the intentions of the Government, and the
duty and claims of the Church, I am persuaded that,
if the education of the people at lai^e be taken out
of the hands of the Clergy, it vrill be mainly their
own fault. They stand on a vantage ground, from
which, if they are vigilant and active, it will hardly
be possible to dislodge them. But they must take
care that the education which they offer is one which
deserves the name, adapted to the present state of
human knowledge, and to the wants of society. On
this subject I retain the opinion which I stated in
my Charge of 1834. It was, therefore, with great
pleasure that I gave my sanction to a plan, suggested
by some of the London Clergy, and carried into effect
by themselves, vnth the assistance of several lay
members of the Church, of forming evening classes,
and giving evening lectures on different branches of
literature, art, and science, to the young men of
London, with a view to their improvement, moral,
intellectual, and spiritual; affected as they are by
the peculiar temptations of a great city, by the
modem practice of early closing, and by the

68

advancing diffusion of knowledge. The benevolent
efforts of the Committee have been crowned with
a large measure of success. They have now com-
menced the first term of the third year with 48
classes, in 17 different parishes, numbering about 800
students, most of them clerks, or shopmen in com-
mercial houses, some Scripture Readers, and some
National Schoolmasters. It is scarcely possible to
estimate too highly the good which this movement is
calculated to produce. Its moral and social effect
is to be measured, not merely by the improved tastes
and habits of the students themselves, but by the
influence which they will exercise upon those around
them, their fellow-clerks and shopmen, their families
and acquaintances.

One other subject remains to be noticed before
I conclude.

The great Exhibition of Works of Art and In-
dustry, which has been announced for the year 1851,
will cause an unprecedented influx of strangers into
this metropolis from all parts of the world, but espe-
cially from the Continent of Europe. It is for others
to consider, in what manner that vast multitude is to
be provided with lodgings and the conveniences of life.
It is surely a duty, incumbent on the ministers of the
Grospel, to devise, if possible, some mode of furnishing
them with the means of attending the public worship
of God, and of profiting by the opportunities of the

69

Christian Sabbath. Let us not welcome them to
this great emporium of the world's commeroe, as
though we looked only to the gratification of our
national pride, or to mutual improvement in the
arts which mmister to the enjoyment of this present
life, and took no thought of the spiritual relation
which subsists between all mankind, as children of
God, whom He desires to be saved through Jesus
Christ. Let us not incur the guilt of Hezekiah, who
displayed to the Chaldean messengers the home of
his precioM8 things^ the silver ^ and the gold^ and the
9pices^ and the precious ointment^ and all the house of
kis armoury and aU that was found in his treasures ; "
but forgot, as it seems, to set before them the glory
of the true God, and the beauty of holiness in His
law, in His worship, and in the history of His won-
derful works.

It may not be easy to mark out the precise line of
duty which we ought to follow in this matter, or to
devise any plan, which may be equally applicable to
persons of differ^it languages and creeds; but we
should endeavour to provide for them the means of
common wor^ip, and to distribute, amongst those
who may be wilUng to receive it, the Bible, and, when
it may be done, the Book of Common Prayer, trans-
lated into the languages of their respective countries.
I cannot doubt but that the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge will l^nd its aid towards the

*» 2 Kings XX. 13.

70

fulfilment of this design. Whatever measure of success
may attend our endeavours, they will at least serve to
convince our guests that we are not mere worshippers
of Mammon ; that we are not entirely absorbed in
the pursuit of those objects which concern only the
present life ; but that we glory in possessing ourselves,
and are desirous of imparting to others, the un-
searchable riches of Christ

In conclusion, Reverend Brethren, I would again
suggest to you, that the most likely method of healing
the wounds inflicted upon the Church by our intestine
divisions, of softening that asperity of feeling which
religious controversy is so apt to engender, and of
bringing us by degrees to a common understanding
upon questions of vital importance, is for every one
of us, in his proper sphere of action, honestly to fulfil
the duty laid by the Church upon all her ministers :
" See that you never cease your labour, your care,
and diligence, until you have done all that lieth in
you, according to your bounden duty, to bring all
" that are or shall be committed to your charge into
" that agreement in the knowledge and faith of God,
*' and that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ,
" that there be no room left among you either for
" error in religion, or for viciousness of life."

I cannot but think, that if eveiy clerg3rman were
to direct aU his energies and endeavours to the task
of feeding that portion of the Lord's family which
is entrusted to his care, with the wholesome food

71

provided for them in the Bible and the Church ; to the
instruction of the ignorant, and the conversion of the
sinful ; with earnest prayer, the study of God's Word,
and a devout and punctual observance of the Church's
rules, — confining his efforts, except in special cases, to
the field of labour which has been assigned to him, —
he would do more to tranquillize and strengthen the
Church, than he could effect by stepping out of his
allotted station to enlist himself in the ranks of angry
polemics, under pther banners than those of the Church
herself, unfurled by her authorized standard-bearers.

There are three promises, my brethren, which you
have all made before God, and in the face of His
Church, when you were invested with authority to
preach the Word of God and to minister His holy
Sacraments, which, taken together, and with a due
regard to their bearings upon one another, will furnish
you with a perfect rule of conduct in times of per-
plexity and disquiet. Suffer me to remind you of them .

1. "Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence,
" to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange
" doctrines contrary to Grod's word ?

" I will, the Lord being my helper.'

2. " Will you maintain and set forwards, as much
" as lieth in you, quietness, peace, and love among all
" Christian people, and especially among them that
" are or shall be committed to your charge?"

" I will so do, the Lord being my helper."

99

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72

3. " Will you revereBtly obey your Ordinary, and
other chief ministers, unto whom is committed the
charge and government over you, following with
a glad mind and will their godly admonitions,

" and submitting yourselves to their godly judg-

" ments ? '*

" I will so do, the Lord being my helper/'

Whatever dangers may threaten us from without,
if there be amongst us a spirit of* firm adherence
to the scriptural doctrines and apostolical order of our
Church, of mutual candour and kindness, and of
cheerful obedience to legitimate authority exercised
within reasonable bounds, a zealous devotion to our
Master's work, and a simple reUance upon Him
for the will and the power to perform it, He will
assuredly bless and protect His Church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.

Now, unto Hint that is able to do exceeding abun-
dantly above all that we ask or thinks according to the
power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the
Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world
without end* Amen ! **

« Eph. iii. 21.

THE END.

H. tLAT, PBIKTKR, BUEAD fTREBY HILL.